The Little Uchiha
by blissful remembrance
Summary: Haley Uchiha is the little sister of Sasuke and Itachi. She is happier than any Uchiha should be and Sasuke can't help but have a soft spot for her. Haley joins Team 7 and everything changes now that she's there. Alongside Sasuke and the rest of Team 7, she'll navigate what it means to be a sister and a ninja in the harsh but beautiful world she lives in.
1. Clumsiness and Cake

**AN: Hi everyone! I'm really excited to begin the story and have you guys read it. I've read some Sasuke "sis-fics" in the past but they've never been like what I've imagined so I decided to write my own. I'm planning on this being quite a long story so I hope you'll enjoy it and be excited for future chapters. Please review and tell me what you think of it! Without further ado go ahead and start reading!**

* * *

"Sir, are you sure she should be graduating with this class? I mean she is three years younger than everyone else and by no means is she a prodigy of any sorts. In fact her academy scores are below average." Pressed one of the academy teachers. The others seemed to agree but were careful because of the sensitivity of the subject.

"I understand all of your concerns. But for the good of the both of them it's really our only option. She may not be ready to be a serious ninja yet but it would do more harm than good to leave her behind for another three years. She did also fairly pass the graduation exam," replied the Hokage.

"She did but just barley. She only had enough chakra to make one clone. I doubt she could have done it if Sasuke hadn't been teaching it to her for a while now."

"That's exactly my point. Sasuke taught it to her. They are the only two remaining Uchiha's in the village and it would be cruel to separate them. You know that Sasuke will protect her at all costs and with Kakashi as their sensei, I'm sure she will be fine."

The others while still hesitant understood the Hokage's point and silently agreed with him.

"So you're proposing that Team 7 be made up of the two Uchihas with Kakashi as their sensei. But would the third member be Naruto Uzumaki or Sakura Haruno?"

"Both of them"

"Both? But sir that would make a four person team."

"I'm aware of that. While that isn't something the village does, I think we have no choice but to make an exception. There is an uneven amount of graduates this year and I think it's only fair that all of them get to pass. Quite frankly there's already nothing normal about a team filled with the last two survivors of a massacred clan, the Jinchuriki and a civilian girl. I don't see the harm with making it a little stranger than it already is," the Hokage spoke with a tone that left no room for argument.

* * *

Sasuke Uchiha doesn't appear to be all that complicated. He trains, keeps to himself, always has a stoic face on and avidly avoids anyone who could be considered a "fan girl". He considers himself to be very simple with clear life goals and a strong motivation. He also has very many dislikes with a comparably shorter list of likes. Sasuke likes to think. He likes having quiet in the morning to collect his thoughts. And he likes not being interrupted during all of this. The opposite of these things are something that he greatly dislikes and the reason why he is in a particularly annoyed mood this morning.

"Sasuke!" yelled a little lump of energy jumping on top of him, interrupting his relaxed state. The lump keep bouncing on top of his stomach until he reached out to hold it in place.

This lump was his little sister who always seemed to enjoy waking him up in this way. No matter how many times he scolds her on doing so, she just can't help herself when she's excited.

"We're gonna be ninja today Sasuke! Real ninja! I don't have to pretend anymore!" she yelled excitedly all while holding up her headband.

Sasuke sighed at her antics but couldn't help but let out a little smile.

"Yes we are but you know real ninja don't jump on people who are trying to have a peaceful morning." Sasuke insisted while lifting her off of him.

Sasuke made the bed while his sister continued to ramble on about how cool it was going to be to get to be a real ninja. He mostly tuned her out but offered a nod every once in a while to at least make her feel like he was listening. He began to make his way to the kitchen when the rambling suddenly stopped and she planted herself right in front of him.

"Wait. We should go out for breakfast this morning since it's a big deal!"

Sasuke could easily see how nervous she was because he spent all of his time with her but the bigger reason probably being that she was awful at hiding her emotions. He ignored her protests about him not going into the kitchen and simply pushed past her to see what all the fuss was about.

To say the kitchen was a mess would be putting it nicely. It more accurately looked like a hurricane had made it's way through there. Sasuke was appalled at the sight considering he was actually very tidy. He turned to look at his sister giving her a glare that made her flinch a little.

"Sorry sorry! I was just trying to make breakfast since it was a special day but everything kept going wrong. I know I'm not good at cooking but I didn't think it would go this badly!"

"It always goes this badly when you try to cook. I thought I banned you from the kitchen."

"Maybe but who was I to know that it applied on days like this!"

"It especially applies on days like this." Sasuke sighed and grabbed two bananas out of the fridge. "Just eat this and you can clean this up later"

"You mean we can?" Haley hoped.

"You heard what I said," Sasuke replied and went to go get dressed for the long day ahead he could already tell he was going to have.

* * *

As Sasuke and his sister skipping beside him, made their way to the academy, he couldn't help but wonder for the hundredth time how she was related to him. Haley Uchiha is a very happy and positive person for even the likes of a ten year old. What made this even more astonishing was the fact that she was an Uchiha, who were known for their lack of emotions, and that she had lived through the massacre just as Sasuke had. She may have only been six but he knows that she remembers it well, despite her unwillingness to talk about it.

When they reached the classroom where their future teams would be decided, Haley stopped her skipping and unconsciously moved closer to Sasuke. That never went unnoticed by him but he never mentioned anything about it, as it only seemed fair. Sasuke was a very different person when he was alone with Haley rather than when he was around anyone else. While he still wasn't all too emotional, he didn't act completely devoid of feelings around her. The same could be said for Haley as she is outgoing and hyper when only Sasuke is around or if she is with people she knows well. But as soon as there are other people she isn't familiar with, she becomes shy and sticks to her brother like glue. They both had a silent understanding of how the other worked, thought and felt most of the time.

* * *

(Haley POV)

Sasuke and I walked over to our usual seats and we were immediately bombarded by Sakura and Ino who came racing through the front doors.

"Good morning Sasuke-kun! Are you excited to see the teams today? I just know you and I will be on the same team!" Sakura beamed at Sasuke

"In your dreams forehead! Sasuke-kun will be on my team!" Ino yelled back at her

"You wish Ino-Pig!"

"Okay everyone take your seats, I will be announcing the genin teams now!" Iruka-sensei proclaimed and everyone hurried to their spots. He began reading off the names for the teams and I turned to Sasuke about halfway through.

"What if we're not on the same team," I whispered to him trying my best not to sound worried

"We will be" was the only reassurance he responded with.

"How can you be sure," I looked at him doubtfully to which he mumbled something along the lines of "just listen"

I turned back to Iruka and my conversation with Sasuke didn't do much to calm my nerves. I have no idea how they pick teams and only hope the people who did were nice enough to put me and him on the same one. I listened intensely for my name or Sasuke's to be called but it was taking forever! Iruka-sensei has always been a bit slow and boring but I know he's a nice teacher. I just wish he would hurry up already. Team 7 is the next to be announced and he called out Naruto's name and then Sakura's.

"The third member of Team 7 is Sasuke Uchiha," Iruka-sensei called out

I could feel my heart drop and had to stop myself from having a break down. Sasuke was wrong. He and I wouldn't be on the same team and I didn't know what to do. I couldn't even think right until Sasuke poked my cheek to get me to focus. When I didn't look at him he leaned over and whispered in my ear,

"If you would have been paying attention you would know that we're on the same team"

I looked at him in confusion, "What? But there was already three people on the team."

"I know but apparently they're making an exception and we're a four man squad."

I let out a breath I didn't even know I was holding. Everything would be okay now.

* * *

(Third Person POV)

"This is so not okay!" Haley pouted to Sasuke.

They were the only remaining team in the classroom and had been waiting for a while now. Sasuke could only convince Haley to remain quiet for the first half-hour they were there.

"Sasuke lets do something," Haley said with no response.

"Come on lets play a game" she tried again with still no response from him

"Sasssuuuukkkkkkkkkeeeeee"

Sasuke's eyes twitched at Haley's seemingly never-ending pronunciation of his name. He pushed a blank piece of paper and a pencil in front of her and she looked at him expectantly.

"Well? What am I supposed to do with this?" she inquired

"I don't know. Draw something, practice writing, anything you can do with paper and pencil" he replied sounded exhausted.

"You're such a grumpy old man! Would it kill you to be a little fun for two seconds!" she yelled at him.

Naruto and Sakura were now both listening to their ever increasingly loud conversation and with Haley's remark Sakura looked offended and Naruto just started laughing.

When Haley noticed that they were paying attention to them she immediately grew quiet and shrunk down into her seat a little bit. Most people in the village put their attention towards Sasuke because of his growing potential. Besides that, the two Uchiha's don't spend much time around anyone but themselves. So she didn't really know what it was like to interact with other people all too much.

"Wow Sasuke! I think that squirt described you perfectly!" Naruto exclaimed while still laughing loudly.

"Shut up Naruto! You don't know anything about Sasuke-kun!" Sakura yelled at Naruto from a different part of the room. She continued yelling at him until a little voice caught their attention.

"Why did you call me that?" Haley hesitantly asked.

"Huh? Call you what?" Naruto questioned

"Squirt"

"Oh! Well I don't know. It seemed to fit. I mean look how small you are, it only makes sense to call you squirt."

Haley may be shy and a bit unsure when it comes to other people but she is also easily provoked which out ways the effects of the first two.

"I am not small!" Haley yelled and was leaning over the desk she was sitting at, knocking over the pencil and paper, now long forgotten.

"What! You so are! People tell me I'm short and you're like half my height!"

"That's not fair you're way older than me!"

"Older or not you're still small!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am- ," Haley was interrupted by Sasuke pulling her back into her seat.

"Would you two idiots stop that," he said sounding extremely annoyed.

Sakura nodded her head in agreement and Naruto and Haley took to glaring at each other. Haley tried to copy some of the faces she had seen Sasuke make but ultimately failed to look remotely mean or intimidating. Naruto grew tired of them glaring at each other quickly and decided to start making funny faces at her. Haley tried her best to keep glaring and not laugh, but that lasted for about ten seconds. She happily returned the funny faces and they were able to entertain themselves like that for a little while. Just as quickly as the pencil and paper were forgotten, their fight was too and Haley thought that she had just made her first friend.

"Hey come over here I wanna show you something," Naruto said with a mischievous look on his face.

Haley quickly made her way over to him, excited about what he had to show her. The two of them huddled in the corner of the room speaking in hushed voices. Every once in a while there would be muffled giggles coming from their direction but they never gave any indication about what they were planning on doing. Sakura tried to ask them what they were planning but Naruto told her that it was a "private meeting" and she couldn't know unless she wanted to come over and join.

Her curiosity almost got the better of her and she was about to head over there until she sparred a glance at Sasuke.

Sasuke was carefully watching the two of them conduct their "private meeting". He might have been happy that his sister was making friends (something he figured she would like to do even though he didn't share the same desire), if it was anyone beside Naruto. Naruto was an idiot in his mind, always pulling pranks and challenging him to different competitions (which he always won). He could care less what he does and if he got into trouble but Haley was a different story. Sasuke loved his sister but he had to admit that she kind of reminded him of Naruto, in the least offensive way he could think of. She was hyper and careless on her own just as Naruto was. He couldn't imagine the headache the two of them working together would be like.

These thoughts all contributed to a strong look of disapproval on his face. Sakura saw this look and immediately halted her walk over to the two of them. She put on her own look of disapproval towards them to try and get Sasuke to notice how agreeing she was with him.

* * *

(Haley POV)

Naruto and I were in our private meeting when Sakura tried asking what we were planning. I looked at Naruto to see if he thought we should tell her and he told me only if she came over. I agreed with that since this meeting was in fact private and we couldn't just spill our plans to everyone out in the open.

We were planning on doing something to our new Sensei since he was so late. I probably wouldn't have done something like this under normal circumstances because Sasuke always says you have to make a good impression. I think he's sort of a hypocrite when he says this since I would describe his first impression as serious and uninterested. Anyways it doesn't matter all too much right now since we've been waiting forever.

"I was thinking that we could put an eraser on top of the door so that when he opens it, it'll fall right on his head!" Naruto explained looking pretty proud of his idea.

I giggled at the idea nodding in agreement until a thought struck me.

"Naruto I think I can make that idea better," I told him feeling confident about it

"Really? Well don't keep me waiting what is it?"

"Instead of an eraser, why don't we put a cup of water on the door. That way our new Sensei will be all wet!"

Naruto's eyes widened at my idea and he gave me a high five.

"Wow we're so smart!" he exclaimed

"We are, aren't we!" I agreed happily.

We finally broke up our meeting and went to look for the supplies we needed for the prank. I didn't know where we would find a cup but I would leave that part to Naruto. I went over to my bag to get out the water bottle I had and made my way over to Naruto who had found a cup on Iruka-sensei's desk.

* * *

(Third Person POV)

Sasuke was still observing Naruto and Haley while they were in their little huddle. He was annoyed he couldn't hear anything besides the occasional high five or laughter. _What could those two be planning?_

After what felt like forever, they finally separated and began heading to different sides of the room. Haley made her was over to her bag and pulled out her water bottle while Naruto was looking around the teachers desk until he found a cup. They walked over to the door and Haley poured the water into the cup.

"Okay what are you two doing now!" Sakura said in tone that was mostly demanding but had an underlying curiosity to it.

They both laughed and Naruto decided to finally tell his other two teammates what they were doing, "We're gonna put this cup on the door so when our Sensei get's here, he'll get all wet!"

"You can't do that! He'll be mad at us!" Sakura insisted

"Who cares! He has it coming for making us wait while all the other teams already got to meet their Sensei's!" Naruto shouted with certainty

And with their plan revealed Sasuke felt the beginning of a never-ending headache come upon him.

"Our Sensei is a Jounin. He would never fall for something as stupid as that" Sasuke said to the both of them.

"How would you know? Maybe he's not the smartest Jounin if he can't even show up on time," Haley stated as she took the cup from Naruto and began to fill it with water.

She overestimated how fast the water was coming out and ended up filling it to the very top of the cup. Deciding that the more water the merrier, she kept all of the water in the cup. Everyone was watching as she slowly and carefully made her way over to the door. She was right at the door and it all seemed to be going fine until the door suddenly began to open, breaking her intense concentration. Haley tripped over her own foot and the cup of water went flying in the air, managing to get her and their new Sensei's, hair completely wet.

Everyone was silent until Haley let out a nervous laugh and looked up at her Sensei from her position on the ground, "Opps! Um sorry about that!"

With that Naruto broke out into laughter, thinking about how this turned out way better than their original plan. Sakura stifled her laughter, silently agreeing with Naruto. Sasuke was concerned that this "Jounin" hadn't been able to dodge the water and a bit hopeful that Haley wouldn't conspire with Naruto again since she ended up getting all wet (he unfortunately already knew this wouldn't stop her).

"How can I put this? My first impression is that...you're all a bunch of idiots. Meet me on the rooftop in five minutes," and with that he disappeared leaving a group of dumbfounded genins.

* * *

(Haley POV)

We all made our way up to the rooftop and our new Sensei began explaining the things we were supposed to talk about to introduce ourselves. He gave an example but the only thing he actually told us was that his name is Kakashi.

I meant to listen to what the others were saying but I was too preoccupied trying to dry off my hair. I'm still really annoyed that my plan backfired like that. I'm just happy that Kakashi-Sensei ended up getting wet too. I quickly looked over at him so I would feel better about what happened, but his hair was completely dry! I was so shocked. How did he do that? Did he keep a hairdryer around here somewhere? While I was thinking all of this, Kakashi-sensei gave me an infuriating smile that I knew was meant to mock me. I crossed my arms and turned away from him in annoyance. How come we ended up with a sensei like him of all people?

My thoughts were interrupted by Kakashi-sensei looking straight at me and saying "And what about our drenched little genin?"

The audacity he had saying that. I glared at him but stated my introduction anyway,

"My name is Haley Uchiha. I like candy, being a ninja, my brother and games. I hate being clumsy and people who dry off magically (I said as I shot a glare at Kakashi). My dream is to be a great ninja and protect people who can't protect themselves. My hobbies are... well I guess it's training with Sasuke."

"Very good everyone. Now tomorrow morning we're all going to meet a five am for a test," Kakashi said with a smile on his face.

"What kind of test?" Sasuke asked

"A test to see who gets to be a ninja of course!"

Everyone's faces dropped at that and we all looked confused. What did he mean who gets to be a ninja? We already passed!

"Sensei we already passed our graduation exam." Sakura said questioning him

"That's true but not all of the teams that graduated will be accepted as genin. Only three of the teams will actually be able to pass"

Naruto began yelling about how that was unfair and by the look of it, the rest of us agreed with him. I just hope we'll be able to pass. I really wanna be a ninja!

"Oh and one more thing. Don't eat breakfast tomorrow morning. Or you'll puke"

I'm not sure what to think of Kakashi-sensei. First my water hits him; that was good. Then he somehow dries off; that was bad. And now he's telling us we might not be ninja; that was very very bad.

I was pulled out of my thoughts by a towel being thrown in my face. I looked up and Kakashi-sensei winked at me, and then disappeared out of sight. I couldn't help but smile and decide that although he might be really annoying and crazy, I think I like our new sensei.

* * *

(Third Person POV)

"Sasuke. Where are you going? Our house is this way," Haley said pointing in the direction of their apartment.

"I know that," he replied and simply kept walking in the direction he was already going in.

Haley huffed and walked after him, "Will there ever be a day where you answer my questions? Where are we going?"

"To dinner"

She perked up at his reply, "Really! We're going out to dinner!"

"We don't really have much of a choice," he said sounding irritated

"Why wouldn't we-," Haley stopped as the memories of a disastrous kitchen came flooding back into her mind, "Oh...I sort of forgot about that"

"Hn"

Sasuke led them to one of his favorite restaurants to go to. It was quiet and secluded and that was exactly the reason he enjoyed it. The owner used to be well acquainted with the Uchiha's so he always offers them a discount when they eat there.

Haley bounced over to their usual booth in the back and couldn't keep from smiling. Although she was dreading having to clean the kitchen when they got home, she was kind of happy she made the mess since it meant they got to eat here.

"Ah Sasuke and Haley! I'm glad to see you back here. I see you two are both genin now," the shop owner said and couldn't keep the pride out of his voice.

"Yep! Did you see my headband Noburu-san?" Haley asked as she proudly shoved her headband in his face.

Sasuke pushed her arms away from Noburu while the man laughed at her expected enthusiasm.

"I did Haley. That's how I knew you had become a genin"

"Oh! That makes sense. Well anyway can I get my usual please!"

"Of course you can. And for you Sasuke?"

"I'll have my usual too."

"Alright! I'll have them right out"

"Thank you Noburu-san," Sasuke replied and nodded at the man in thanks.

As the two Uchihas waited for their food Haley asked a question she'd been meaning to ask Sasuke all day,

"So what do you this test will be?"

"I'm not sure. Kakashi-sensei seems insane so I don't think we could predict what he will do," Sasuke said thoughtfully wondering about it himself.

"Hmm. Well you're definitely right about him being crazy!" Haley stopped to think for a minute "But I don't think I'm going to worry about it"

"Oh? And why is that?" he asked curiously

"Because I think our team can pass any test he gives us! We have you on the team, and you're so good at pretty much everything. Then we have Naruto. I don't actually know what he can do but he's nice and I trust him. Then we have Sakura, who gets high scores on her written test. And finally we have me and I will become a ninja no matter what!" Haley answered passionately.

Sasuke could only laugh at her response but he had to admit that it was pretty could description of Team 7. Haley joined him in laughing and soon enough their food came and they were both in high sprits. Haley nearly jumped out of her seat when Noburu walked over to them carrying a huge slice of cake and some tomatoes.

Sasuke was extremely happy with his tomatoes but sent a glare at Noburu for giving Haley such a huge slice of cake.

"How could you do this to me Noburu" Sasuke asked with despair.

He laughed at the boys look and slid into the booth next to Haley,

"Ah come on! Look at how happy she is," he gestured at her for emphasis.

"You're not allowed to say anything unless you're the one trying to get her to go to sleep," Sasuke replied.

"You've got a point there. Sorry about that," he said while still laughing to himself.

Haley was oblivious to anything around her as she devoured her cake. Once she finished, she returned her attention to the conversation her brother and Noburu were having and immediately had to defend herself as Sasuke told him the story of her tripping from earlier.

They waved goodbye to Noburu and started their walk home. Sasuke developed a frown as he watched Haley literally bounce with every step she took. He knew she wouldn't want to do any training right now so he had to take other measures to wear her out. He suddenly thought of the perfect idea and stopped walking.

Haley turned to him in confusion and he simply told her to come over to him. He gave her a hug out of nowhere and Haley was more confused that ever. _Since when does Sasuke ever hug anyone?_

Before she could vocalize any of her questions, he pulled away and with a smirk on his face, he dangled her new headband in front of her.

"Hey give that back," Haley yelled as she reached for the headband. Sasuke put it out of her reach and said in the most taunting tone he could manage,

"You'll have to catch me if you want it," and with that he ran off.

Haley was shocked for a second but recovered quickly and sprinted after him. _How dare he take my headband!_

Sasuke made sure to run too fast for her to catch him until he was satisfied with how tired she looked. He began to slow down and when she caught up, let her jump on him to recover the stolen item.

Haley was huffing and out of breath, "Why did you do that you meanie!"

He shrugged and said playfully, "I don't know? I was bored"

Haley then proceeded to start a fight with him. She poured her remaining energy into the fight and Sasuke stopped her when he noticed how sloppy her moves were getting.

"Come on, lets go home," he said while blocking a half hearted fist

"You think you can get out of this fight so easily. In your dreams!" Haley lightly yelled while making another charge.

Sasuke picked her up before she could hit him and placed her on his back. She was considering demanding he put her down until she felt how comfortable he was. As Sasuke began walking he felt her head land on his shoulder and her breathing even out. _Sasuke 1 Cake 0!_ He happily thought.

When he reached their house, he made his way through the front door and sighed as he saw the state of the kitchen. He carried Haley to their bedroom and lay her down on the bed.

Sasuke turned around to the direction of the kitchen and whispered, "You're lucky you got out of this one kid."

* * *

 **AN: And that's the first chapter. This might get a little long but please take the time to read it because I want to explain some things about the story and the dynamic of it. Firstly I changed the graduation age to 13 just because I wanted Haley to be 10 and for there to be a three year age difference between her and Sasuke. You might not be able to tell yet but Sasuke will be less intense and stoic in this story because having someone else from his family survive the massacre with him made a huge impact on his life. Also Haley being on team 7 will affect Naruto and Sakura's personalities over time. I hate how Sakura is reduced to a "fan girl" at the beginning and I think you will like how she changes within this story. One last thing. As you could see I changed the POV at different points in the story. If you noticed, Haley's POV should have sounded a bit more childish than the regular one and that was done on purpose seeing as she's only 10 right now. Anyway that's all for now and I really hope you enjoyed it. I will be updating as soon as possible and please remember to leave a review. Thanks for reading!**


	2. Book Club and Bonding

**AN: Hi again everyone! Thank you so much to all the people who reviewed, followed and favorited the story! I don't know why but in the characters part of the description Naruto's name comes before Sasuke's (even though I put Sasuke's first) but I guess it doesn't really matter all too much haha. Anyway please read and enjoy!**

* * *

(Third Person POV)

The four newly graduated genin were waiting at the spot Kakashi had told them to meet at the previous day. Once again he was late and no one was happy about it.

"I don't get it! He's supposed to be a Jounin and our sensei! How could someone like that be this irresponsible?" Sakura cried out in frustration.

"Yeah! When he gets here, he's gonna have to deal with Naruto Uzumaki! Believe it!" Naruto proclaimed to the group.

"I bet he'll be shaking in fear," Sasuke added in sarcastically.

"You'll see teme! Whatever test he gives us, I'll pass it right away and he'll be so annoyed at how easy it was for me to beat it!"

"Sure thing dobe," Sasuke added with a smirk on his face.

This lead into a fight between the two boys, if you could even call it that. It mostly consisted of Naruto getting highly annoyed with Sasuke while Sasuke was getting highly amused by Naruto. Sakura tried to jump in on the fight and yell at Naruto, but the two boys were too caught up in their own business to notice her.

With a sigh Sakura accepted that Sasuke wouldn't pay any attention to her right now and resolved to try again later. She turned away from the boys and saw Haley sitting under a tree a little ways away from where they all were. She had almost completely forgotten she was there and was shocked at how quiet she was being considering what she was like yesterday.

Sakura never had any intention on befriending the young Uchiha until a thought struck her last night. _It seems like the only person Sasuke-kun actually likes is his sister. If I can make her like me, she could tell Sasuke-kun how amazing I am and then he will finally acknowledge me!_

With a new goal in mind Sakura headed over to where Haley was sitting. She stood right in front of her and with the friendliest artificial smile she could manage asked, "What are you doing Haley?"

Haley looked up at the girl and just stared at her for a minute. She didn't know how she felt about Sakura. She was one of those "fan girls" that were always following her brother around and trying to get him to fall in love with them. Haley had a bad experience with them and knew Sasuke dreaded them so it made her hesitant to like Sakura. But Haley always believed that you shouldn't form opinions about people until you get to know them yourselves. She thought that Sakura seemed nice enough when she wasn't obsessing over her brother. So with that in mind she returned a large smile to the older girl who was relieved after she had been uncomfortably stared at for a long time.

"I'm reading this book I got from the library. It's not boring like the ones they make you read in the academy. It's about a princess who lives in this gigantic castle that gets taken over by these evil guys. She decides that she wants to save her castle so she secretly starts training to get stronger. Then... well I haven't read any farther than that," Haley exclaimed in one long breath.

Sakura was certain she had read that book years ago and offered Haley a genuine smile this time, "I read that when I was younger! If you think it's good now, just wait and it gets even better. You were smart to bring a book here. I would've too if I knew we would be waiting this long!"

"It was actually Sasuke's idea to bring the book. He figured Kakashi-sensei might be late again and muttered something about not wanting me to complain I'm bored. But I'm glad I brought it anyway."

 _Sasuke-kun is so smart! I-_

Sakura's train of thought was interrupted by Haley speaking again, "I can read it out loud if you wanna read the book too."

Sakura was a bit taken back by that offer. She wasn't expecting her to do something like that. Putting her thoughts of Sasuke aside she answered with, "Okay! But only if you want to."

Haley nodded, confirming that she wanted to and began to read her book aloud. Sakura listened to her and instantly remembered why she loved this story when she was younger. She thought boys were gross at this point in her life and this book had no elements of romance. Only a princess who instead of having to be saved by her love, saved everyone else instead. She could tell Haley really liked the story too by how enthusiastically she read it. She offered to read it aloud since as time went on, Haley began reading faster and faster and she could barley keep up anymore. Haley eagerly agreed since she was completely out of breath at this point.

Naruto and Sasuke's "fight" had finally come to an end and they finally noticed the lack of females around them. They both looked around until they saw Haley and Sakura sitting under a tree and what looked to be Sakura reading for them.

Naruto smiled and immediately started running over to them shouting, "I wanna listen too!" while Sakura shushed him and told him he had to be quiet if he wanted to listen.

Sasuke slowly approached the group, not knowing if he wanted to join in on what could be described as team bonding. Of course he liked Haley, that wasn't a problem. Even Naruto wasn't that much of a problem because even though he was annoying, he was also quite amusing to him. But Sakura, Sakura was a different story entirely. She had been one of his most loyal "fan girls" for a long time and he could hardly stand any of them. He still gets irritated when he thinks about the time they made Haley cry...

 _"_ _Sasuke, why do all of these girls keep following us around?" An eight-year-old Haley inquired._

 _Sasuke grunted in annoyance thinking about them, "I don't know. They think they're in love with me or something."_

 _Haley's eyes widened at the new discovery and she looked scared, "Are you gonna marry one of them and leave me alone?"_

 _"_ _Oh god no! Why would you think that! I don't like any of them. They are the last people I would ever marry." Sasuke assured her._

 _She instantly brightened, "Okay! I'll remember that!"_

 _(The next day at the supermarket)_

 _Sasuke and Haley were doing their weekly grocery shop. They split up so Sasuke could go get fruits and vegetables and Haley could go get bread and napkins. What they didn't know is that a few of the more obsessive "fan girls" had found out they were going grocery shopping and showed up there. They split up and went to different parts of the store searching for their "Sasuke-kun"_

 _Haley had just finished grabbing her things and decided to take a detour to the ice cream section (how could she resist). Just as she was reaching for a big tub, one of the "fan girls" spotted Haley and made her way over to her. Haley was a bit confused as to why a girl she most certainly didn't know was practically sprinting her way._

 _The "fan girl" realized that she wasn't with Sasuke and desperately asked, "Where is Sasuke-kun?"_

 _Haley looked up at her (The girl being much larger than her little eight year old self) and decided that she was one of the girls that always follows Sasuke around._

 _Haley grew shy and mumbled something out that the "fan girl" couldn't understand. She yelled at her to "speak louder!" and Haley took a deep breath and did her best to speak louder._

 _Haley was brutally honest about pretty much everything at this point and failed to see situations where she shouldn't say something. She told the girl, "He's somewhere else but I don't think you should bother following him anymore. He told me that he doesn't really like any of you and that he would never marry any of you. It's okay though! I'm sure someone else will like you one day!"_

 _The" fan girl" looked shocked and that quickly turned to anger. Anyone that denied her chances of Sasuke, even his sister, deserved the worst._

 _"_ _How dare you say that!" she exclaimed and shoved Haley in the heat of the moment._

 _Sasuke had finished gathering the fruits and vegetables and was looking for Haley. He checked the aisles with bread and napkins and realized that she probably made her way into the ice cream section. He really should stop making them split up because every time he does, they always go home with way more sugar filled food than he would like._

 _As he approached the ice cream, he made it just in time to watch someone he vaguely recognized as one of his "fan girls" push his sister onto the ground. Anger filled up inside him and he moved there with his practiced ninja speed. He grabbed her wrist and the girl would've been ecstatic that Sasuke was touching her if it weren't for the matter of how hard he was gripping it._

 _"_ _uh- Sasuke-kun... please stop that hurts," the girl stuttered out._

 _His face only darkened as he heard his sister crying from the ground and he growled out, "Don't you ever come near me or my sister ever again. If you do, I won't be so nice," and with that threw her wrist away from him._

 _The girl was scared and decided that Sasuke was dead serious. She didn't know if she could be in love with a man that looked like he wanted to kill her. She slowly backed away and then ran out of the supermarket with distress written all over her face._

 _Sasuke bent down to his sister and put his hands on her shoulders, "Hales. Are you okay? Don't worry she won't bother you again"_

 _Haley looked up at her brother and gave a slight nod. He picked her up off the ground and checked to make sure she wasn't really hurt._

 _She chocked out, "It's okay, it didn't really hurt that much. She was just scary"_

 _Sasuke nodded in understanding and picked up the ice cream that had been knocked out of her hands and gave it back to her. She let out a smile and they made their way over to the checkout without being bothered by anyone else._

Sasuke knew that Sakura wasn't the girl that did that but he couldn't help but associate them all with her. He couldn't stop the tinge of worry when he saw them together but she seemed to be being nice enough to Haley. Even so, he didn't find anything particularly likable about Sakura. She was still an annoying "fan girl" and was always looking at him like some piece of meat.

Pushing all thoughts aside he seated himself on the ground but noticeably farther away from the team than the rest of them. None of them were too concerned about this as they were all engrossed in the book. Even Sasuke became a bit interested after thirty minutes of having nothing to do other than listen to it. The climax of the story was approaching and no one but Sakura (who had previously read it) and Sasuke (who could easily anticipate what would happen in a story meant for children) knew what was coming.

It was at this moment that Kakashi decided to show up. Just as he started muttering out some excuse about a "black cat crossing his path", he was promptly shushed by Haley and Naruto. He couldn't help the surprise he felt at what appeared to be all of his little students connecting over a book. If he was anyone else he would have yelled at them for being rude to and ignoring their sensei, but he was Kakashi and he held a certain amount of respect for anyone reading a book that wasn't for learning anything particularly "useful" or "appropriate" (maybe that last term only applied to him he thought with some amusement). Either way he only sat down and pulled out his own book, waiting for them to get through the climax of the story.

When Haley and Naruto were satisfied everyone stood up and as they all looked at him properly for the first time, it took no more than three seconds for Haley, Sakura and Naruto to simultaneously yell out, "You're late!"

"If you had listened to me before you would've known that a black cat crossed my path" Kakashi started as all of the genin's faces grew annoyed at the obvious lie.

"Anyway! I think it's time to begin you're test. What you have to do is quite simple." He held up three bells "Just try and take these from me."

"But Kakashi-sensei there's only three bells and there's four of us," Sakura pointed out.

"Yes you're right there is. That means three of you will pass and become ninja and one of you will fail and be sent back to the academy" everyone tensed at that statement, "The person who doesn't get a bell will be tied to this pole and won't get to eat any lunch. You may start when I say begin."

"This is so unfair!" Naruto complained and ran to attack Kakashi

Kakashi let out a dark chuckle that made everyone shiver and appeared behind Naruto in an instant, "Nothing about being a shinobi is fair. This life is cruel and shows no mercy towards anyone. If you think it'll be the equivalent to a fair child's game then you have no place being here" he let go of Naruto and moved towards the center of the clearing, "Come at me with the intention to kill. Begin!"

Haley's eyes widened at the statement. Her hands were shaking and it took a lot of restraint to control her breathing. Kakashi hit really close to home with his words. _He sounds just like Itachi._ She always did everything in her power to avoid thinking about him and the massacre. The reason she wanted to become a ninja was to stop anything remotely close to it from happening again. She wanted to be able to protect the people she cared about. He had to be wrong! The world couldn't be that way, she wouldn't accept it! And how could she come at him with the intention to kill? The last thing she ever wanted to do was to kill anyone let alone her new Sensei.

She was frozen to the spot she stood in and was only moved by Sasuke grabbing her and bringing her into the bushes with him. He looked at her with worry and realized it had been forever since she was like this. _Not since that day_.

He cursed under his breath at put his hands on the sides of her face, forcing her to look right at him, "Haley. You can't do this right now. I know what he said was scary but you have to focus. This is just practice, okay. No one is killing anyone else. We have to pass this test to become shinobi. Don't you want to be a shinobi?"

Haley closed her eyes and listened to him. _It was scary but it might not be entirely true. Don't think about 4 years ago. Never think about that. Its just practice. A test. No one will die. No one will die. A shinobi? I want to become a shinobi- no I will become a shinobi!_

Whatever was happening to her passed and she was feeling back to normal. Determination filled in place of worry and she tightened her headband as she had a test to pass.

* * *

(Haley POV)

I looked out in the clearing and was confused by what I saw.

"Why is Naruto fighting with more Narutos?" I asked Sasuke

"Well he seemed to be doing good until it was apparent that Kakashi-sensei used a replacement jutsu. That idiot doesn't seem to realize though," he replied.

I couldn't hold back a laugh as Naruto beat himself up. I might've yelled out to him but that would give away our hiding spot.

Where is Kakashi-sensei anyway? My opinion of him is changing again! I thought I was going to like him until he gave the scariest and most intense speech of the year. But what does he know?

Naruto finally decided to undo his jutsu and realized that Kakashi-sensei wasn't near him anymore. He was looking around till his eyes landed underneath a tree. There was a bell sitting right there!

"No way! Kakashi-sensei just dropped a bell! Naruto got so lucky!"

Sasuke gave me the look he gives me when he's annoyed he has to explain something that he believes should be obvious to me, "It's a trap. Do you really think he would just accidently drop a bell?"

Huh. I guess he had a point. As Naruto reached down to pick up the bell he was lifted off the ground by a rope. Kakashi-sensei finally appeared in front of him and began speaking to him. I looked over at Sasuke and he muttered out something about a perfect time to strike and began hurling shuriken at Kakashi-sensei.

"What are you doing! That's too dangerous!" I yelled at him.

I watched in horror as they hit Kakashi-sensei and he went flying. Luckily it was only a replacement jutsu and he was okay.

Just as I let out a breath of relief, Sasuke yelled at me, "Come on! He knows where we are now, we have to get out of here!"

He took off running and I was right behind him until I looked out and saw that Naruto was struggling to get out the ropes. I didn't want to leave Sasuke but Naruto needed help.

"I'm gonna help Naruto," I yelled out at Sasuke as I took off in his direction. I'm not sure if he even heard me seeing as he was a lot farther ahead of me but I just had to assume that he did.

Naruto was wiggling in the ropes trying to free himself. I laughed as this seemed like good karma for him laughing at me tripping yesterday.

He looked annoyed and in my smuggest voice I asked him, "How's it hanging?"

He glared at me and I continued, "It seems like the tables have tur—whooah ahhh!"

I was suddenly hoisted into the air by another rope that I didn't notice. Dumb Kakashi-sensei! Why does he have to ruin every fun plan I have?

Naruto laughed at me and I couldn't blame him. How ironic was this. Once he stopped laughing he asked, "Wait a minute. What are you doing here? How come you're not with Sasuke or trying to get the bells?"

"Well I was going with Sasuke until I realized you needed help. I couldn't just leave you here, could I? We're... friends right?" I ended hesitantly. I have never been friends with anyone besides Sasuke before. Who knows if he wanted to be my friend.

* * *

(Third Person POV)

Haley might never know how much that meant to Naruto. No one had ever wanted to be his friend. It was more like the opposite and seemed like everyone hated him and avoided him at all costs. Even the people who weren't too mean to him never called him a friend. And unlike her he never had a sibling or family member to be friends with either. He almost cried out in happiness. Someone wanted to be his friend!

As he looked at her he realized he still hadn't answered yet and with his biggest smile yet said, "Of course we're friends!"

She looked relieved and then just as happy as Naruto. He decided that he would get him and his new friend out of this mess. With all the strength he could muster he reached up towards the rope and began cutting it with a kunai. Haley cheered him on from the side and that only made him do it faster and stronger. A minute later he cut the rope and landed gracefully on the ground. He then climbed up the tree and started cutting Haley's rope. Just as it was done he reached out and grabbed the rope so she wouldn't fall. She was slowly let down until she could safely make it to the ground. The two high fived and let out a "Go us!"

Hidden in the trees, one of Kakashi's clones gave an eye smile as he thought that this would be the first team to pass his exam. He was almost certain of it. Not wanting to ruin the moment, he disappeared and focused on his other two students.

* * *

"What should we do now?" Naruto wondered out loud.

"I think we should go try and find Sasuke. He'll know how to beat Kakashi-sensei!"

"I don't know if the teme will but it's worth a shot I guess."

Just as they were about to go find Sasuke, a loud scream sounded throughout the training grounds.

"I think that was Sakura!" Naruto exclaimed

"Yeah I think so too! Let's go find her!" Haley responded as she began heading off towards where the scream was coming from.

"What about the teme?"

"He'll be fine. Sasuke's strong. We'll find him after we find Sakura."

They two speed off to find the girl. They kept an eye out for Kakashi but were glad that they made it to her without running into him. Sakura was on the ground with a horrified look in her eyes.

"Sakura? What's wrong!" Naruto tried to ask her.

"Sakura! Are you okay?" Haley attempted but they still got nothing from her.

Haley walked over and started poking Sakura. When that didn't work she began shaking her

"Saaaakkkkuurraaa!"

Naruto doubted that it was going to work until her eyes fluttered open. She looked up and realized that she had been caught in a genjutsu. She was annoyed at herself at being such an easy target and not seeing through it. But in her defense it was her Sasuke-kun being killed.

"What happened to you," Haley asked

"I was caught in a genjutsu. Didn't you realize that when you were trying to wake me up?"

Haley and Naruto looked at each other and offered an "Of course we did! We're not idiots after all!"

Sakura doubted that they did realize and let out a sigh. At least she wasn't the only one who didn't notice. It didn't really make her feel any better seeing as it was Haley and Naruto, who both did pretty awful on all of the written tests in the academy.

"Okay now we go find Sasuke!" Haley proclaimed

Sakura full heartedly agreed with that but realized that would mean that all four of them would be together. Only three of them could get bells.

She pulled Haley aside and told her; "Hey let's go find Sasuke by ourselves. There are only three bells and if we leave Naruto behind, you, Sasuke and me would get to become shinobi! It's the perfect plan! Then we don't have to have that annoying Naruto on our team!"

Haley was shocked at what Sakura was saying. _How could she be so mean!_ Just as she was about to reply Sasuke appeared in front of them all.

"Teme! Where have you been?" Naruto asked him.

"I was fighting Kakashi-sensei and I almost got one of his bells. But he surprised me and I sort of got- ," the rest of his sentence was mumbled out so no one could really understand him.

"Perfect timing Sasuke! I was just telling Haley about how we should team up and leave Naruto behind! That way the three of us could become a team without Naruto there to annoy us all!" Sakura smiled proudly at her idea.

"Hn. I agree that we need to work together to beat him but if anyone should be left out I think it's you." Sasuke replied harshly as he guessed he still held resentment towards his "fan girls"

Sakura's face dropped and she looked devastated.

"You wish! If anyone shouldn't be on this team it's definitely you!" Naruto cried out.

Everyone's faces held a mixture of anger and sadness and Kakashi felt extremely disappointed as he watched them. He had thought that this had been the team. The team that would finally show the necessary teamwork and friendship he knew was vital for success. Just as he was about to jump down and announce that they failed the youngest Uchiha spoke up,

"What is wrong with all of you!" she angrily yelled out. This caught all of them by surprise. "How could you do something as awful as this! You're fighting over who the worst person is and trying to figure out who to leave behind! This test is stupid! It's making us work against each other!" she let out a breath and began to speak in a calmer manner, "We're a team. And hopefully someday we'll all be friends. We were put together for some reason and the whole point of being on a team is working together. The best chance we have of beating Kakashi-sensei is if we, all four of us, fight together! And when we do get the bells I... I'll let you guys have them. I wanna be a ninja really bad but I can wait. I am three years behind everyone after all."

Everyone took in what she had to say. Kakashi smiled from the trees feeling extremely proud of his youngest student. The file on Haley Uchiha didn't show anything too promising. In fact it was quite worrying to him. She was below average in just about every area and barley passed the graduation exam. It might've not been all too surprising seeing as she was much younger than her classmates but her brothers both excelled in ninja skills, even at her age. He doubted that she would ever be anything but an average shinobi. But now he had changed his mind. What he just saw was something rare. She was wiser than she realized. She had heart and valued the people around her. She could always be trained to improve her ninja skills, but what Kakashi just witnessed wasn't so easily taught.

"No way. You're not going back to the academy," Sasuke told her

"Yeah the teme's right! I'm not letting that happen. I'll go back instead," Naruto decided.

As Sakura listened to Haley she realized that she was right. Teamwork was important no matter how much she didn't like Naruto. "No. You heard her. We're a team. No one should get left behind! Not you and not Haley either"

"I agree," Sasuke let out. Sakura couldn't help the blush that appeared on her face.

"Okay then what do we do about this test?" Naruto asked. They all looked stumped on this question.

"You pass" Kakashi said as he appeared right in front of all of them.

"What!" They all yelled out at the same time.

"Haley was the only person who seemed to figure it out, even if she didn't realize it. The point of this test isn't about being strong enough to get the bells." Kakashi began.

Sakura gasped in realization, "It's about teamwork"

"Yes it is. As Haley mentioned the test does pit you all against each other. That's the point. As ninja you have to see underneath the underneath. Do you all remember what I told you before we began the test?" They all slowly nodded remembering his harsh words. "Everything I said is true. Being a shinobi isn't a game. This life is crueler than anything else. You must understand that. But you also must understand that certain things have the power to dull and overcome that cruelty. Friendship and the desire to protect the people you care about are a stronger force than most things. In the ninja world, those who break the rules are scum, that's true, but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum."

Haley held back tears at what he was saying. He was right. This world could be cruel and she knew that better than most people. Maybe being a ninja would be cruel too. But as long as she had Sasuke and the rest of Team 7 by her side, she had hope that it wouldn't be so bad. In fact she believed that it would be would be the best thing to happen to her yet.

"Congratulations Team 7, you're officially genin"

* * *

 **AN: And that's Chapter 2. There wasn't too much Haley and Sasuke in this chapter seeing as I was focusing on developing bonds between Haley and the rest of Team 7. I hope you can also see how Sakura is slowly developing as a character. Sasuke still doesn't like her right now, after what happened when they were younger even though it didn't involve Sakura. He still holds resentment towards his "fan girls". This story won't be a Sakura/Sasuke romance, but they will become closer eventually. Also the thing that happened at the beginning with Haley being frozen and freaking out will be expanded upon in the future (As in reasoning and it possibly happening again). Please continue to tell me what you think and name any suggestions you have!**


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